When it comes to climate change, there’s no such thing as a “get out of jail free card.” But there may be an inexpensive alternative: direct air capture.
This technology is not exactly an exoneration, but more of a social good: it promises to suck huge amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, making up for more than a century of burning fossil fuels. Scientifically, this is a sound idea. Commercially, it is less so.
currently, It costs about $600 to $1000. Capturing a metric ton of carbon is a much larger amount than anyone thought was commercially viable. Many startups are racing to lower costs, with the goal of capturing a single metric ton of carbon dioxide for $100 or less.
But even at that price, it may be a tough sell because burning fossil fuels is mostly free. But many investors and even multinationals like Microsoft, Shopify and Stripe are betting that the world will eventually embrace direct air capture, much like the way we treat wastewater today instead of dumping it into the river.
Larger startups like Climeworks and Carbon Engineering are betting that scale will help keep costs down. Both companies use absorbent materials to capture carbon dioxide and use heat to release it from the absorbent materials so it can be stored elsewhere.
However, smaller startups point out that size alone will not be enough. “Thermal regeneration is always the most energy-intensive step,” said Malte Focht, co-founder and CEO of Energy Technologies. flyera young startup in the direct air capture space. He may be right about that. One study Capturing a significant amount of carbon, about 10 gigatons per year, using Carbon Engineering’s approach, would require nearly three-quarters of the total electricity generated in the world today, he says.
Focht believes a different, heat-free approach could help cut costs. Like most direct air capture companies, Flair uses fans to blow air over an absorber. But instead of heating the absorber, the company uses acid to release the carbon dioxide. To produce the acid and base used in this process, Flair, formerly known as Carbon Atlantis, developed a device it calls a hydrolyser.
The hydrolyser borrows a lot of elements from the hydrogen industry, Focht says, taking elements from both membrane-based electrolysers and membrane-based fuel cells. (An electrolyser produces hydrogen using electricity, while a fuel cell consumes hydrogen to produce it.)
“Instead of hydrogen, we only produce acids and bases,” he added.
Phlair’s DAC machine uses what’s known as a “pH swing” method to capture CO2. Inside, a basic solvent (high pH) absorbs CO2 as it flows through an air contractor. After the saturated solvent exits the air contractor, it’s dumped into a tank where it’s saturated with acid (low pH). This swing in pH from high to low triggers a chemical reaction that releases CO2 so it can be transported elsewhere for use or storage. The solvent then flows back into the hydrolyser where it’s regenerated.
Flyer will launch a pilot project in the next few weeks that can capture about 10 metric tons of carbon per year, Focht said. After that, the startup is working on larger plants with a capacity of 260 metric tons that are scheduled to start operating in late 2025. One plant will be built with Paebble in the Netherlands to provide carbon to help make a cement additive, while the other will be built in Canada with Deep Sky, a developer of the carbon removal project, which will store the carbon.
The startup DAC has already sold a number of carbon credits to organizations like borderwhich works with Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, Stripe, and others to create an advanced market commitment to direct airdrops.
To help complete larger projects, Phlair has raised €12 million in a seed funding round, plus a €2.5 million grant from the EU’s EIC Accelerator Program. The investment round was led by Exantia Capital, with participation from Atlantic Labs, Counteract, Planet A, UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators, and Verve Ventures.
“I think this is a unique time in history. Ten years ago, you probably would have had to start an NGO to do what we do,” Focht said. “Now, there’s a real opportunity to serve customers, to build a business, but also to address this problem. [carbon] “The problem for me is that my personal motivation is too great for me.”